Citation
Parker, Wendy & Smith, Rachel A. (2012). Peer and academic social networks influence on health. 2012 Add Health Users Conference. Bethesda, MD.Abstract
Recent literature hypothesizes an increasing role for the social and academic relationships of adolescents connected to a number of health outcomes. Using Add Health data, which is then linked to the AHAA, this project seeks to understand the relationship between academic and social networks in high school as they relate to overall health status, as well as several specific health outcomes and conditions including obesity and ADHD. The research question for this study is as follows: is a high school student’s position in an academic or social network related to self-rated health? Secondly, is a high school student’s position in an academic or social network related to several physical and behavioral health outcomes? What is the direction of the relationship? These data sets are well-suited to this project because of the rich social network data from a number of schools which is linked to post secondary educational records as well as robust health information, chronic conditions and biomarker information. Using a combination of social network analysis and multilevel models to analyze and craft these elaborate networks, we hope to begin to better understand the role of academic and/or peer networks in the health of adolescents. Pajek will be used to compute network data, which will then be incorporated into the multilevel models. Social networks are measured in terms of friendships, and academic networks are measured in terms of co-enrollment in courses.URL
https://addhealth.cpc.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/docs/events/2012%20Add%20Health%20Users%20Conference%20Abstracts.pdfReference Type
Conference proceedingBook Title
2012 Add Health Users ConferenceAuthor(s)
Parker, WendySmith, Rachel A.